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PlainSpell

spawn

/spɔn/verb, noun

spawn is spelled S-P-A-W-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, spawn means “To produce or deposit (eggs) in water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in spawn?

Letters5: S-P-A-W-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is spawn?

Spawn appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce spawn?

  • UK /spɔːn/
  • US /spɔn/
  • /spɑn/

Spawn has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spawn.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with spawn?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spawn from its last stressed vowel (/ɔn/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of spawn

  • spawns present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • spawning participle, present
  • spawned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does spawn mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To produce or deposit (eggs) in water.

    A frog spawns thousands of tadpoles every year.

  2. 2

    To generate, bring into being, especially nonmammalian beings in very large numbers.

  3. 3

    To bring forth in general.

    The web server spawns a new process to handle each client's request.

  4. 4

    To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn.

  5. 5

    To plant with fungal spawn.

  6. 6

    To deposit (numerous) eggs in water.

  7. 7

    To reproduce, especially in large numbers.

  8. 8

    To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, spontaneously in a game world at a particular place and time.

    We put down torches to stop creepers from spawning.

noun

  1. 1

    The numerous eggs of an aquatic organism.

  2. 2

    Mushroom mycelium prepared for (aided) propagation.

  3. 3

    Any germ or seed, even a figurative source.

    This dreadful idea is the spawn of a large business conglomerate.

  4. 4

    derogatoryChildren; offspring.

  5. 5

    The buds or branches produced from underground stems.

  6. 6

    Synonym of spawn point.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Spawn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfrayer (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water), engendrer (to generate, bring into being, especially…), apparaître, poper (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain…), frai (the numerous eggs of an aquatic organism), rejeton (any germ or seed, even a figurative source…)
Germanablaichen, laichen (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water), erzeugen, hervorbringen (to generate, bring into being, especially…), Laich, Fischlaich (the numerous eggs of an aquatic organism)
Portuguesedesovar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water), gerar (to generate, bring into being, especially…), spawnar (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain…), ova (the numerous eggs of an aquatic organism)
Spanishdesovar, frezar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water), spawnear (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain…), freza, desove (the numerous eggs of an aquatic organism), engendrar (to bring forth in general)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does spawn come from?

Recorded since 1413; from Middle English spawnen, from Anglo-Norman espaundre, from Old French espandre, from Latin expandere (“stretch out; spread out”, verb). Doublet of expand. Compare also Middle English spalden, spolden, spawden (“to cut open (a fish)”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after spawn